How people build an unusually large sense of trust in services like Uber and Airbnb

Trust is a crucial element in any relationship, not least when
financial transactions are taking place. The rise of sharing
economy platforms such as Airbnb and Uber – where you pay a
stranger for a service – are especially dependent on trust. Are
they who they say they are? Will they deliver the service that
they’ve promised?

With the use of some key digital features, trust is being built
between people that have never met each other. In fact, research
I’ve carried out shows that, when they are designed well, sharing
economy services can build greater trust between strangers than
you’d expect between colleagues.

These were the findings of recent research into people that use
the ride-sharing platform BlaBlaCar. The service is generally
used for city-to-city travel across the world. It connects
drivers and people who need a ride, bringing hitchhiking into the
digital age.

The study is co-authored with Arun Sundarajan, a
professor at New York University, Frédéric Mazzella, BlaBlaCar’s
CEO, and Verena Butt D’Espous, BlaBlaCar’s head of
communications. We conducted a survey of 18,289 members of
BlaBlaCar across 11 countries in Europe. We found that 88% of
respondents highly trusted a member with a full digital profile.

Surprisingly, this is higher than people’s trust levels in
colleagues or neighbours. Indeed, using the same measures, only
58% of respondents said they would highly trust a colleague and
42% would highly trust a neighbour. In fact, when it came to
trusting fully-profiled strangers on this ride-sharing site,
levels were nearly as high as trust in family members (94%
indicate high trust) or friends (92% indicate high trust).

This trust in strangers hinges on how they present themselves
online. BlaBlaCar’s recipe to create trust is a combination of
features. Among others, these include short bios of who you are,
as well as the possibility to declare personal information like
your phone number and e-mail address on your online profile. And
profiles are also often connected to members’ other online
profiles such as Facebook or LinkedIn.

Keys to success

Supporters
of Airbnb stand during a rally before a hearing at City Hall in
New YorkThomson
Reuters

Another way that trust is built in the sharing economy is by
strengthening users’ trust in the platform in general. If they
trust the company behind it, or the “brand”, this will spill over
onto other users being active on the platform.

This is something I’ve found when researching Airbnb in a project I’m
currently working on. In a recent survey of 232 users of the
accommodation sharing platform, I tested several of their
trust-building features and how they affect trust in these two
entities: the platform as well as those using the platform.

One is reliable insurance cover: Airbnb insurance cover (up to
US$1m) automatically kicks in with each transaction. Insurance
cover seems extremely relevant. Renting out your apartment, often
including all your personal belongings, to a stranger seems
extremely risky. But insurance cover provides users with the
feeling that they are prepared for any contingency.

Another important feature is the review process – where both
hosts and guests rate each other. This is similar to many other
website marketplaces we know, such as eBay. The difference with
Airbnb, however, is that the platform makes sure that reviews are
only publicly revealed after both parties have submitted them.
This stops users from reviewing each other positively only
because they fear being penalised for a negative review (by
receiving a negative review themselves). Reviews become more
honest and reliable.

The platform also lists many rooms from all around the world.
This has a network effect – because so many other people are
using the service and from all over the world, it must be safe to
use. You are aware of this when you’re on the platform – and it
helps build trust.

With ever-increasing numbers of people using the internet,
sharing economy platforms such as Airbnb and BlaBlaCar are
becoming the norm. The ability of these newcomers to survive
hinges on their ability to ensure trust between their service
providers and users. Digitally designing their sites to build
this trust between strangers is therefore incredibly important.